Fishless Cycling V Cycling With Fish

[Miss Wiggle]

again theres a number of theories around the difference between a newly cycled and a mature tank.
my personal favourite theory is that when you set up a new tank, you've got all new equipment, decor etc etc, essentially you've got a big melting pot of lots of different elements chemical biological etc so when you slap them all in together along with the waste produced by the fish you get loads and loads of different chemical reactions and processes going on. these are things we can't monitor or test for but they make the tank that bit less stable, after 6 months or so things have calmed down, everything has done most of it's reacting and has become inert or an equilibrium has been reached therefore the water conditions are much more stable.

 

[huckFIN]

Good luck to huckFIN with your fishless cycle - I hope you'll keep us posted on your progress!

Thanks for that. I won't even be getting my tank until 25th September and then I'll have to get the gravel, plants (not sure if I'm going for plastic or real) any rocks I want, the filter and the airpumps not to mention the ammonia and test kit(s). Once I have these I'll position the tank and fill it. The next few weeks will just be a waiting (and testing) game.
Thanks to all who replied to my question.